Sunday, May 30, 2010

Military Wisdoms...

Nobody's Opinion: This memorial day, the best thing we can do to honor all the men and women who have fought for America...and all those families who have lost their sons and daughters fighting America's enemies...is to fight like hell here at home to keep the America that we have always loved...alive, least they come home to find all that they thought they were fighting for...no longer exists. 'We cannot let that happen.

(Does England celebrate Memorial Day amforatas?)

So, in no particular order...here are some wise things from some very wise soldiers..and a lot of wise pilots... to enjoy on your holiday off!

WISDOM - FROM THE MILITARY MANUAL

"If the enemy is in range, so are you." - Infantry Journal

*******

"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed." - U.S. Air Force Manual

*******

"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons." - General MacArthur

*******

"You, you, and you ... Panic. The rest of you, come with me." - U.S. Marine corps Gunnery Sgt.

"If you see a bomb technician running, keep up with him." - USAF Ammo Troop

*******

"Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death , I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing."

*******

"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3." - Paul F. Crickmore (test pilot)

*******

"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."

*******

"If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe."

*******

"When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."

*******

"Even with ammunition, the USAF is just another expensive flying club."

*******

"What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up, .... The pilot dies."

*******

"Never trade luck for skill."

*******

The three most common expressions (or famous last words), in aviation are: "Why is it doing that?" "Where are we?" And "Oh ----!"

*******

"Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight."

*******

"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; We never left one up there!"

*******

"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."

*******

"The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you." - Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)

*******

"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime." Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970

*******

"If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to."

*******

"You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal."

*******

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives; the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks, "What happened?" The pilot's reply: "I don't know, I just got here myself!" - Attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot)

5 Comments:

Yes indeedy, Joy. Britain has November 11th. The Cenotaph in Whitehall is the central place of 'Rememberance' of all the wars Britain has fought and of the 'unknown soldiers' who died for our nation.

Major dignitaries, Miltary and Civil, join Mrs Queen and old soldiers and representatives of all the Armed Forces in a huge Parade down Whitehall and the laying of wreaths.

In Oz we have 'Anzac' day. Anzac is short for the Autralian and New Zealand Army Corps, raised in the first world war. But it also remembers all the wars we Australians have fought in too.

In addition to the Parade held in Melbourne where our 'Cenotaph' is, as with the UK, almost every town and city has a rememberance parade and service at the same time.

The Anzac Parade was marginalised and calumnised for a while, especially as the numbers of WW1 soldiers dwindled. But there has been a surge in sentiment in recent years with many young people joining the parade, wearing their Fathers' and Grandfathers' medals. More and more want to be part of it. It grows annually.

The 'Lefties' and disaffected loonies condemn these recognitions as 'celebrations of war': A calumny, expected from such poor distorted folk. It celebrates not at all, of course. It is an occasion of rememberance and gratitude for sacrifice in awful circumstances.

Those lefties and loonies in Oz often claim that Oz has a 'cultural cringe' in that we have fought 'other people's wars', meaning Britain's. They give no thought or acknowledgement to fighting for Justice, Democracy, Truth, against forces of Evil.

Links to this post:

About Me

I am a nobody. If the different classes of America were color-coded, I would be in the yucky brown, one rink up from the bottom. I grew up in Naples, Florida and live near the Mississippi River now with my husband and two dogs.
I am part of the slowly disappearing middle-class.
I was a musician most of my life:drummer/singer/keyboards---but I retired before the plastic surgery flu hit.
I have no degrees,which could be a good thing...depending on how you view our educational system.
I do have three patents...but that really doesn't make me a somebody.
The one thing that is constant in my life is my OPINIONS...which I have more of than perhaps even Carl Segan could have imagined,
mostly political.
Hopefully other nobodys will put their opinions on my site. But if you are a somebody...you're more than welcomed to help out.
I will try to prove that sometimes nobody knows the answers, sometimes nobody cares, sometimes nobody wins, and most importantly...NOBODY is perfect.
Please bear this in mind when you read my thoughts. I don't mean to offend nobody, it's all in good fun.